272 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



To treat of shoeino^ thoroughly would involve a 

 minute consideration of the anatom}^ of the foot and 

 leg ; and even to treat it with that brevity which this 

 work necessitates, a superficial consideration of the 

 formation of the foot is necessary. 



The celebrated English authority, Fearnley, very 

 properl}^ remarks that the majority of writers on the 

 foot have erred in considering it in isolation, or by 

 itself, instead of as a part of the whole. It seems clear 

 to me that to intelligently study shoeing the foot must 

 be considered not by itself, but in its relation to the 

 whole structure. 



Certainly the effects of bad shoeing or of indifferent 

 care of the feet affect the ankles and tendons directly, 

 and as far as shoeing is concerned, the foot proper 

 cannot be considered without reference to these parts. 



The external anatomy of the foot may for our pur- 

 pose be considered in three divisions : 1. The wall, or 

 outer crust, from the coronet to the sole. 2. The sole, 

 which Saint Bel defines as " that ]mrt which covers the 

 whole inferior surface of the foot excepting the frog.'' 

 3. The frog, the insensible, spongy, triangular body in 

 the center of the foot. 



The wall, "the circular boundary-wall inclosing the 

 internal structures," extends from the coronet, (the 

 border-line Avhere the skin joins the hoof, which is 

 technically called " the line of the coronary band "), in 

 an obhque direction to the bottom of the foot, terminat- 

 ing in ''a circular projecting border." This is the 

 natural hearing part of the foot, and to it the shoe is 

 nailed. Bracy Clark declares that the slant of the 

 foot from the toe to the coronet should form an ano-le 



